The Petch House

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Sunday, October 16, 2005

I got the “Face Frames” on today (someone corrected me that “cabinet fronts” is incorrect) and I got the doors cut to size. Over all I’m happy with them but there may be a problem. Before I get in to that, here are some pictures. Now, keep in mind that these still need putty, sanding, and paint. Also keep in mind that I’m not Norm Abrams and this is still new to me.

Here are the 2 cabinets with the doors just fitted on. There are no hinges or latches yet.

Base Unit 1

Base Unit 2

Without the door

I am proud of the toe kicks (is that the right term?). I actually screwed up when cutting the first one and there was a little dip in the middle. The dip was well centered so I decided to keep it and I duplicated It on the other one.

On the cabinet for the dishwasher the toe kick is attached to a little box. The box is secured with a few screws. The idea is that I can install the dishwasher and then put in the toe kick. Then in 3 years when the dishwasher breaks down (“Durable Goods” – yea right!) I can get it out easily.

Now for the potential problem. This potential problem is all theoretical at this point because I haven’t hung the door so I can’t take accurate measurements. The dishwasher is going to be completely under the cabinet hidden behind a door. The dishwasher is 24-inches wide and the opening to the cabinet is 26-inches wide. It seems like there should be plenty of room, right. Well, there was until yesterday.

The first problem arose because the cabinet is in a corner. In the picture below you can see that when the wall cabinet door opens it only opens a little over 90 degrees. The floor cabinet for the dishwasher will open about the same. This means that the opening is reduced by 1.25-inches because the door can’t get completely out of the way. Now the opening is going to be 24.75-inches. Very close but still some wiggle room.

However, because I made the doors out of 1X4 T&G boards I felt they needed a little more strength. I added 2, .75-inch thick slats to the back of the cabinet door (see picture below). In theory this will take up the remaining wiggle room I had. Now I may be reduced to a 24-inch opening for a 24-inch wide dishwasher. Way too tight.

Everything is glued and nailed together at this point so I don’t want to take anything apart. The plan is to get the doors hung tomorrow and take more measurements. I can grind and cut away at the slats to gain back some room. One way or another I will get this to work, but it would be nice it I didn’t have to fudge it so much.

6 comments:

Yes it would. That is an excellent observation. The reason I want to avoid that is because the DW is to the right if the sink. If the door opened to the left you would have to reach over it to get dishes from the sink in to the DW.

Is there any way, using that genious mind of yours, to have the door open as the dishasher door opens, that is swing down, rather than right or left. I'm sure you can find some hinges to do that... That way you're right back to your over-engineered head-space!

Thanks. Glad I could help. I hope it works. You may want to look into something (again, like a dishwasher), that takes the load of the door as it opens, so it doesn't crash into the floor every time.

On a side note, Greg, I want to thank you for this site. Not to swell your head, but your continued persistence in working with original or salvaged materials, and your loyalty to the house are admirable. I visit every day. Thanks.